College Celebrates Hall of Fame and Alumni Award Recipients
The University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law recently held its 2025 Law Alumni Association Hall of Fame and Alumni Awards reception at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington, Kentucky.
The Hall of Fame was established to acknowledge graduates and former faculty of the college whose extraordinary professional success and contributions, profound positive influence on the college, and high degree of character and integrity are recognized by their peers.
Inclusion in the Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed by the college. The following individuals were inducted into the 2025 Hall of Fame: Garvice Kincaid, Gary D. Payne, John M. Rogers, and Penny Warren.
In addition to the Hall of Fame induction, the Law Alumni Association presented the 2025 Alumni Awards to Mark P. Bryant (Professional Achievement Award), Laken Gilbert Albrink (Community Service Award), Jennifer Jackson (Young Professional Award), Thomas Wingate (Distinguished Jurist Award), and Hank Jones (Legacy Award).
Hall of Fame inductee Garvice Kincaid (Class of 1937) was considered one of the most successful businessmen in Kentucky history before his death in 1975. In 1945, he became the youngest bank president in Kentucky at the age of 32 after he and some colleagues acquired the majority interest in Central Bank & Trust Company in Lexington.
In 1959, he purchased control of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company and took it from the relative obscurity of a small, regional insurer to one of the nation’s largest life insurance companies.
At the time of his death, Kincaid was chairman of the Board of Kentucky Central Life Insurance Company; held controlling interest in 20 banks in Central and Eastern Kentucky; and headed the Lexington law firm of Kincaid, Wilson, Schaeffer and Hembree, and several enterprises engaged in consumer finance, real estate, and radio and television broadcasting.
Hall of Fame inductee Gary D. Payne (Class of 1979) practiced law in various capacities in Lexington before becoming the first Black judge in Fayette County after his appointment to the Fayette District Court bench in 1988. He later served as a Fayette Circuit Court judge from 1994 until 2006, including holding the role of chief judge from 2002 to 2003.
He entered the Judge Advocate General Corps in the Kentucky Army National Guard as a first lieutenant in 1981. He was the first Black JAG in the state of Kentucky and further broke barriers in 2002 when he earned the rank of colonel.
Payne retired from the bench at the end of 2011 after serving as a senior status judge in Kentucky. In retirement, he continues to serve as a member of the Character and Fitness Committee for the Kentucky Office of Bar Admissions and as an adjunct professor in the University of Kentucky Gatton College of Business and Economics.
Hall of Fame inductee John M. Rogers, who graduated from University of Michigan Law School in 1974, joined the law school faculty at UK in 1978 and taught until 2002 when he was appointed by President George W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. At UK, he regularly taught torts, administrative law, constitutional law, and international law. He was associate dean for academic affairs from 1991 to 1994. He is lead co-author of a published casebook for administrative law, currently in its fifth edition. Rogers spent two separate years as a Fulbright senior lecturer in China, teaching international law and other subjects.
Rogers was an appellate litigator in the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice from 1974 to 1978 and a visiting professor at the DOJ from 1983 to 1985.
Rogers is a member of the American Law Institute and of the Council on Foreign Relations. He was commissioned as a U.S. Army Reserve Artillery Officer when he graduated from college, and he participated in the Army Reserve Components for 28 years, including five years in the Kentucky Army National Guard.
Hall of Fame inductee Penny Warren (Class of 1979) started law school at UK at a time when only 7 percent of U.S. attorneys were female. Despite earning her law degree, an MBA from University of Arkansas, and strong recommendations, she initially struggled to find a job.
She began her law career as an appellate lawyer with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office. She represented Gov. John Y. Brown Jr. and his reorganization of the Public Service Commission and won. She went on to win numerous state and federal cases. In 1981, Warren briefed a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1984, she became the first female graduate of the law school at UK to brief and argue before the court, returning in 1987 to argue another successful case.
Warren joined Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP as a partner and complex commercial trial litigator in 1988. She represented clients such as Norfolk Southern in contract disputes and several coal companies in complex commercial litigation, earning the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating (AV) for her work.
Looking toward retirement, Warren joined Federal District Judge Karl Forester as a law clerk in 2006. After Forester’s death in 2014, Warren continued assisting other federal judges in the Eastern District of Kentucky.
After nearly 40 years of experience in state and federal trial and appellate court, Warren retired in 2018. She currently serves on the UK Rosenberg College of Law Visiting Committee.
The Professional Achievement Award recognizes a particularly noteworthy accomplishment in a given year but may be given to one who has achieved and sustained an extraordinary level of excellence in a particular area of law. Mark P. Bryant (Class of 1973) of Paducah has built a remarkable career from his hometown since 1973. He served as Commonwealth’s Attorney for McCracken County for 16 years. Bryant has practiced law for more than 50 years and tried more than 100 cases, both civil and criminal, to jury verdict. He founded the Bryant Law Center in 1990.
The Community Service Award is given to the graduate who has provided outstanding leadership in their community, state or nation to aid and benefit causes not necessarily related to the legal profession. Laken Gilbert Albrink (Class of 2015) serves as an assistant professor of legal writing at UK Rosenberg College of Law, where she obtained her J.D. She joined the college after serving as assistant professor and program coordinator of the Morehead State University Legal Studies Programs.
Albrink sits on the Boards of Directors for Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky and the Kentucky CASA Network. She was also appointed by the governor to the Kentucky Board of Optometric Examiners. Albrink formerly served on the Kentucky Commission on Women and the Child Abuse Prevention and Exploitation Prevention Board.
The Young Professional Award is given to an individual who graduated within the past 10 years and has distinguished themselves professionally in the community, or in some other fashion. Jennifer Henry Jackson (Class of 2018) is an attorney in the Louisville office of Stites & Harbison. She is a member of the Torts & Insurance Practice Group, White Collar Criminal Defense Practice Group, and Health Care Service Group. She handles a variety of litigation matters, including product liability, toxic and mass torts, medical malpractice, professional liability, premises liability, and actions alleging serious personal injury or death. She also represents health care providers in complex fraud investigations involving the Department of Justice, FBI, and Drug Enforcement Agency.
Judge Thomas Wingate (Class of 1991) received this year’s Distinguished Jurist Award, given to someone who has distinguished themselves through a contribution of outstanding service to the legal profession. Wingate was appointed to serve as Franklin County District Judge in September 1999 and was retained by voters of Franklin County in the 2000 and 2002 elections. In 2006, he filled the unexpired term of retiring Judge William Graham. Wingate was unopposed in 2014 and 2022 and began serving his third term as Franklin Circuit Court Judge in January 2023.
The Legacy Award is bestowed upon an individual who graduated 50 or more years ago and has demonstrated exceptional leadership in their profession and/or community and has made a positive impact on the well-being of the UK Rosenberg College of Law, the Commonwealth of Kentucky or elsewhere in the nation. Hank Jones (Class of 1973) began a long and successful career in civil litigation after graduating from law school. Over his career, he has tried cases in more than 60 Kentucky counties and handled matters in more than 90 counties. Before retiring in 2021, Jones began mediating cases to help resolve disputes outside of court. He now mediates full-time through Hank Jones Mediations LLC.
A dedicated member of the Kentucky Bar Association, Jones chaired the Continuing Legal Education program at the 1988 Annual Convention and helped organize the 1996 First Amendment panel. Jones was active in the Defense Research Institute, receiving its Exceptional Service Citation in 1989 and 1998. Jones is UK Fellow and life member of the UK Alumni Association and has served for more than 20 years on the KBA Ethics Committee.
For information about nominating someone for the Law Alumni Association Hall of Fame and Alumni Awards, email uklawalumni@uky.edu.